Thursday, April 29

Since watching a video on-line about "Modern Hippies" I've been thinking. Yeah, it does happen. lol. Although I do relate to some extent, I'm not totally on-board with everything. Mostly that has to do with the whole 'save everything' from running out philosophy. Pretty much decided that nothing essential to life (water, food, oil, energy, building materials) is going to run out, ever, unless something so catastrophic happens that it won't be possible to live on earth anymore anyway (never going to happen!). I believe that there will always be enough. It doesn't matter whether it's oil used to make auto fuel or to lube anything else. Same with electricity, trees, etc, etc, etc. Have decided that whoever (whomever?) started that whole, "O!M!G! we're running out of...'whatever'", was thinking more about getting people to start or keep buying the alleged item that they SAY will soon be or is in short supply, then that it was actually heading for zero supply. Strictly a marketing tactic. People are easier to manipulate if one can make them fear something 'bad' is going to happen if they don't do/believe such and such. Don't get me wrong. I still think it's good to recycle, use things smartly, keep the land and air clean, non violence (love, peace). Still have issues with authority expecting/wishing for everyone to follow arbitrary rules, or the so called experts/pundits assuming everyone is just too stupid to understand unless they explain it so that a 10 year old can 'get it'. Still aggravates me that there is a mentality that in 'polite society' everyone should strive to be like everybody else. That whole 'fear as a tool to manipulate' system, mentality or philosophy has expired for me. NO MORE! NO FEAR!

Wednesday, April 28

Yesterday after noon I got tired of watching television before heading to out, so I got the weed whacker out of the shed and whacked some of the weeds around the outside of the house and the dog's fence around her yard. Unfortunately I ran out of whacker plastic wire before I got very much done around her yard. Then...

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...went to the NEW Buffalo, MO Farmers Market a little later in the afternoon and had a good time. Although we didn't have any money to spend, it was nice to see a few friends and even talk to them in real life. And of course see all the different kinds of tomato plants up for sale. From there we went and picked-up our DD from Cosmetology College, swung by Wally-World to get a few more coffee packs to last until payday (next Monday). Also got 3 donuts and a couple of cans of coke. DD bought the donuts and her coke with her tip money, we paid for the coffee and our coke.

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The rest of the evening was spent indoors watching TV and doing other everyday stuff.

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Today we're not suppose to get any rain. Which means that I can finally get the trash that's been in the burn-barrel for a few days now, burned, plus add the last few of days worth of house-trash to it.

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More than likely I'll shave my face and neck again, take a shower, and possibly mow some more of the grass around the place. Mowed a few days ago as well, since then it's rained and that grass has pretty much grown back. Only have a quarter of the 1.5 gallon tank's worth of gas, but the mower actually gets pretty decent gas 'mileage'. Should be able to get at least around and close to the house mowed again.

Thursday, April 15

Got the 'caregivers' note from the doctor so that Rain can stay home and help me AND qualify for food-stamps. While at the doctor I asked about Medicare covering eye-doctor care/visit since my vision issue was caused by the MS. He's going to have his nurse check into making me an appointment with an Optometrist and whether or not Medicare will or won't pay or at least help pay.

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Got reapplied and reinterviewed for food-stamp qualification per our every 6 month bureaucratic BS. The caseworker was really nice. It just annoys me that we HAVE to do this twice a year even NOTHING changes and hasn't for a couple of years... at least. Had to come home and fax a couple of things the caseworker didn't tell us we needed beforehand, else we would've taken it. Had to resettup the old printer to send said faxes. The new printer doesn't do faxes. Isn't that kind of backward? Anyway, now I'm off to the shower.

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REALLY need to mow, but the mower has a flat and I haven't been able to get it pumped-up because it's been that way for a while, sitting in the shed and the rubber and the rim have a gap between them. Therefore it won't even hold air that I pump in. Not really sure how to remedy that situation easily and inexpensively. Ideas and Suggestions very welcome.

Thursday, April 8

*still* don't know which thermostat is bad :-( Ran fine all day. I took a shower - still ok. Later DD took a shiwer, during which the reset button on the upper therm popped out & heater shut off. Afterward when I pushed the reset buttn in I heard a *pop*. Bth thrms were covered and I not sure if the pop was on top or bttm :-( Suggestions? We're going replace both therms w/ new ones andHOPE they're both good ones. Don't hav an Ohm meter to check the elements, sooooo???? :-(
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4-8-10: Well, CRAP. Rain started to do the dishes last night, only to find out we had NO hot water again, because the water heater turned itself off and needed the red 'reset' button pushed :-( Apparently the reason for the button popping out is because the water was heated to high. Since we've change the upper AND lower thermostats, I'm ASSUMING that there is an ' element' (heats the water) that's gone bad. There are two, and I have no freakin' idea how to figure which one is defective, we will change both. Luckily, at least what I could find on the Internet about prices of them, they aren't very expensive ($10-ish, or less/little more). Wish me luck! Signed, Frustrated Todd

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4-7-10: The last few days we have been having problems keeping the water heater on. It all started when the lights in the kitchen and living room dimmed briefly. We couldn't find anything that was not on anymore, so we figured it was just normal because it happens from time to time. The next morning our DD had to take a cold shower because the water heater had shut itself off. I took the top panel on the water heater off and found a reset button, pushed it, and thought everything would be okay. However, after it had been on for several hours it would just shut off again. Two days ago we went to a feed/hardware (MFA) store and bought a 'upper' thermostat because that's what I had been resetting. But later, or the next morning, our DD said the water wasn't as hot as it had been earlier, so I checked the replaced thermostat and found that it had been 'tripped' and needed reset again, which I did. I guess I should mention that after I reset it the first time a couple of days ago that we noticed that the water was a LOT hotter than it had ever been in the 9 years we've lived in this house. We thought that since the water heater had been off all night the first night that sediment had settled thus allowing more water to be heated and better. Wrong of course. Yesterday after I reset the top thermostat again I knew it must be the bottom one. Since we'd be in town to pick up DD from school later we figured we would get a new one then. Before leaving though, I noticed that the TV was acting like there was interference and had wrinkly lines going across it. I went to the fuse box, shut off the water heater, and the television stopped buzzing and returned to normal, thus confirming there was definitely something still wrong with the heater of water. Last evening we stopped at Lowes and picked up a lower thermostat *(wasn't identical to the old one, but still works), which I installed last evening and this morning we still had really hot water like we were supposed to. YEAH!!

* The reason it wasn't identical is because it was the ONLY one they had at Lowes. Since they're not real complicated, I wasn't too worried. Probably would've been LESS worried had the assistant who showed me ONLY where they were would've hung around long enough for me to ask and make sure I got what I needed, but they (2 coworkers and himself) wondered off together before I had a chance to ask. Yes, I've been to http://lowes.com and sent a complaint (see below) to customer service.

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This is what I sent:
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"Went in looking for a lower thermostat for my water heater on 4-6-10. The assistant showed me WHERE the thermostat was and then walked away with his two coworkers without even offering to help (answer questions, etc). Just thought that was rude. It was like "I'm busy and don't have time", as if his two coworkers were more important."-

Wednesday, April 7

The last few days we have been having problems keeping the water heater on. It all started when the lights in the kitchen and living room dimmed briefly. We couldn't find anything that was not on anymore, so we figured it was just normal because it happens from time to time. The next morning our DD had to take a cold shower because the water heater had shut itself off. I took the top panel on the water heater off and found a reset button, pushed it, and thought everything would be okay. However, after it had been on for several hours it would just shut off again. Two days ago we went to a feed/hardware (MFA) store and bought a 'upper' thermostat because that's what I had been resetting. But later, or the next morning, our DD said the water wasn't as hot as it had been earlier, so I checked the replaced thermostat and found that it had been 'tripped' and needed reset again, which I did. I guess I should mention that after I reset it the first time a couple of days ago that we noticed that the water was a LOT hotter than it had ever been in the 9 years we've lived in this house. We thought that since the water heater had been off all night the first night that sediment had settled thus allowing more water to be heated and better. Wrong of course. Yesterday after I reset the top thermostat again I knew it must be the bottom one. Since we'd be in town to pick up DD from school later we figured we would get a new one then. Before leaving though, I noticed that the TV was acting like there was interference and had wrinkly lines going across it. I went to the fuse box, shut off the water heater, and the television stopped buzzing and returned to normal, thus confirming there was definitely something still wrong with the heater of water. Last evening we stopped at Lowes and picked up a lower thermostat *(wasn't identical to the old one, but still works), which I installed last evening and this morning we still had really hot water like we were supposed to. YEAH!!

* The reason it wasn't identical is because it was the ONLY one they had at Lowes. Since they're not real complicated, I wasn't too worried. Probably would've been LESS worried had the assistant who showed me ONLY where they were would've hung around long enough for me to ask and make sure I got what I needed, but they (2 coworkers and himself) wondered off together before I had a chance to ask. Yes, I've been to http://lowes.com and sent a complaint (see below) to customer service.

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This is what I sent:
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"Went in looking for a lower thermostat for my water heater on 4-6-10. The assistant showed me WHERE the thermostat was and then walked away with his two coworkers without even offering to help (answer questions, etc). Just thought that was rude. It was like "I'm busy and don't have time", as if his two coworkers were more important."-